I'm Legal!

Yesterday, I picked up my visa from the immigration office, which is about a 40 minute standing ride on the subway and a fifteen minute walk after that. The first time I was there, a friend/coworker held my hand through the entire process, taking a three or four hour detour out of his day to show me exactly where it was. Korea doesn't seem to believe that street signs are important on every corner, rather, one should try using the billions of repetitive convenience stores and banks as landmarks to find your way. My friend played an essential role as my lawyer, my translator, and my tourguide. I don't think I would have survived without him. So, yesterday was the day I could pick up my visa. I have a pretty good sense of direction and knew that I could find my way back there this time without him. Of course, one little mistake, and suddenly I'm lost again on the street corner next to 7-Eleven and some Korean restaurant that I cannot read the name. Did it look familiar? Kind of. Like every corner, really. Of course, I'd never been here before. It turned out that I got off the subway one stop too late though I followed the correct steps afterwards, well, it was a frustrating inconvenience. Fast forwarding ahead now, I did get my visa. Earlier, I had given them an old passport picture from sophomore year in college when I wanted a fake ID, becuase I didn't have recent ones. This picture is now on my Korean ID card. I now hold almost every priviliege a Korean citizen does and can come and go as I please for two years if I want. It was a pain in the ass and would have been one thousand times easier to mail the thing in when I was home in the U.S. Of course, the Korean Embassy in the U.S. didn't have the F4 visa application in ENGLISH! Yeah. Live and learn.